1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma display panel, and more particularly to a structure and driving method for a plasma display panel.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, a plasma display panel and a liquid crystal display (LCD) have lately attracted considerable attention as the most practical next generation display of flat panel displays. In particular, the plasma display panel has higher luminance and a wider viewing angle than the LCD. For this reason, the plasma display panel is widely used as a thin type large display such as an outdoor advertising tower, a wall TV and a theater display. The plasma display panel can be divided into a three-electrode type and a two-electrode type.
A related art plasma display panel of three-electrode area discharge type will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1a, the related art plasma display panel of three-electrode area discharge type includes an upper substrate 10 and a lower substrate 20 which face each other. In FIG. 1b, the lower substrate 20 is rotated by 90xc2x0.
The upper substrate 10 includes a plurality of scan electrodes 16 and 16xe2x80x2, a plurality of sustain electrodes 17 and 17xe2x80x2, a dielectric layer 11, and a passivation film 12. The scan electrodes 16 and 16xe2x80x2 are formed at certain intervals in parallel to the sustain electrodes 17 and 17xe2x80x2. The dielectric layer 11 is deposited on the scan electrodes 16 and 16xe2x80x2 and the sustain electrodes 17 and 17xe2x80x2.
The lower substrate 20 includes a plurality of address electrodes 22, a dielectric film 21 formed on an entire surface of the substrate including the address electrodes 22, a plurality of barriers 23 formed on the dielectric film 21 between the respective address electrodes, and a phosphor 24 formed on surfaces of the barriers 23 in each discharge cell and of the dielectric film 21.
Inert gases such as He and Xe are mixed in a space between the upper substrate 10 and the lower substrate 20 at a pressure of 400 to 500 Torr. The space forms a discharge region.
The scan electrodes 16 and 16xe2x80x2 and the sustain electrodes 17 and 17xe2x80x2 are of transparent electrodes and bus electrodes of metals so as to increase optical transmitivity of each discharge cell, as shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b. That is to say, the electrodes 16 and 17 are of transparent electrodes while the electrodes 16xe2x80x2 and 17xe2x80x2 are of bus electrodes.
FIG. 2a is a plane view of the sustain electrodes 17 and 17xe2x80x2 and the scan electrodes 16 and 16xe2x80x2, and FIG. 2b is a sectional view of the sustain electrodes 17 and 17xe2x80x2 and the scan electrodes 16 and 16xe2x80x2.
A discharge voltage from an externally provided driving integrated circuit (IC) is applied to the bus electrodes 16xe2x80x2 and 17xe2x80x2. The discharge voltage applied to the bus electrodes 16xe2x80x2 and 17xe2x80x2 is applied to the transparent electrodes 16 and 17 to generate discharge between the adjacent transparent electrodes 16 and 17. The transparent electrodes 16 and 17 have an overall width of about 300 xcexcm and are made of indium oxide or tin oxide. The bus electrodes 16xe2x80x2 and 17xe2x80x2 are formed of a three-layered thin film of Crxe2x80x94Cuxe2x80x94Cr. At this time, the bus electrodes 16xe2x80x2 and 17xe2x80x2 have a line width of ⅓ of a line width of the transparent electrodes 16 and 17.
The operation of the aforementioned AC type plasma display panel of three-electrode area discharge type will be described with reference to FIGS. 3a to 3d. 
If a driving voltage is applied between each address electrode and each scan electrode, opposite discharge occurs between the address electrode and the scan electrode as shown in FIG. 3a. The inert gas injected into the discharge cell is instantaneously excited by the opposite discharge. If the inert gas is again transited to the ground state, ions are generated. The generated ions or some electrons of quasi-excited state come into collision with a surface of the passivation film as shown in FIG. 3b. The collision of the electrons secondarily discharges electrons from the surface of the passivation film. The secondarily discharged electrons come into collision with a plasma gas to diffuse the discharge. If the opposite discharge between the address electrode and the scan electrode ends, wall charges having opposite polarities occur on the surface of the passivation film on the respective address electrode and the scan electrode, as shown in FIG. 3c. 
If the discharge voltages having opposite polarities are continuously applied to the scan electrode and the sustain electrode and at the same time the driving voltage applied to the address electrode is cut off, area discharge occurs in a discharge region on the surfaces of the dielectric layer and the passivation film due to potential difference between the scan electrode and the sustain electrode as shown in FIG. 3d. The electrons in the discharge cell come into collision with the inert gas in the discharge cell due to the opposite discharge and the area discharge. As a result, the inert gas in the discharge cell is excited and ultraviolet rays having a wavelength of 147 nm occur in the discharge cell. The ultraviolet rays come into collision with the phosphors surrounding the address electrode and the barrier so that the phosphors are excited. The excited phosphors generate visible light rays, and the visible light rays display an image on a screen. That is, the plasma display panel is operated.
A related art plasma display panel of two-electrode area discharge type will be described with reference to FIG. 4.
Opposite discharge occurring between a pair of electrodes formed to face each other on facing substrates is controlled to display an image.
The plasma display panel of two-electrode area discharge type includes electrodes in a matrix arrangement. That is, this plasma display panel includes a plurality of cathodes 50 formed on a lower substrate, a plurality of display anode electrodes 60 formed on an upper substrate to be orthogonal to the cathode electrodes, and a plurality of auxiliary anode electrodes 70.
The cathode electrodes 50 are separated from the anode electrodes 60 and 70 by barriers 23. A space of a display charge cell 80 and a space of an auxiliary discharge cell 80xe2x80x2 are respectively formed. A space having a certain area is formed between most of the barriers 23 and the upper substrate 10 and between most of the barriers 23 and the lower substrate 20, so that a priming path is formed. The priming path induces auxiliary discharge generated by the auxiliary discharge cell 80xe2x80x2 to the display discharge cell 80.
The aforementioned plasma display panel adopts a pulse memory system. A method for driving the pulse memory system will now be described.
As shown in FIG. 5, a sustain discharge pulse 90 is always applied to the cathode electrodes and a scan pulse 95 is applied from the first cathode electrode to the next cathode electrode in turn. At this time, auxiliary discharge occurs whenever the scan pulse 95xe2x80x2 is applied to the auxiliary discharge cell 80xe2x80x2.
The discharge of the auxiliary discharge cell 80xe2x80x2 is successively spread into an adjacent auxiliary discharge cell, thereby generating charge particles. The charge particles are spread into the adjacent display discharge cell 80 through the priming path. Thus, delay time required to discharge the display discharge cell is reduced.
A data pulse 93 is applied to the display anode electrode 60 when the scan pulse 95 is applied to the cathode electrode 50. Since a discharge voltage of the display discharge cell 80 is lowered by the auxiliary discharge for generating display discharge, once addressed cell sustains discharge by applying the sustain discharge pulse 90 thereto.
However, the related art plasma display panel of two-electrode area discharge type has problems that each electrode is degraded and service life of the phosphors is reduced due to opposite discharge. The related art plasma display panel of three-electrode area discharge type has problems that aperture ratio and discharge efficiency are lower than those of the plasma display panel of two-electrode area discharge type.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a structure and driving method for a plasma display panel that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a structure and driving method for a plasma display panel in which degradation of electrodes is reduced and service-life reduction of phosphors is minimized.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the scheme particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, a structure for a plasma display panel according to the present invention includes a plurality of upper electrodes formed on an upper substrate at certain intervals in one direction, a dielectric layer formed on the upper substrate including the upper electrodes, an auxiliary electrode formed on the dielectric layer between adjacent upper electrodes, a passivation film formed on the dielectric layer including the auxiliary electrode, a lower electrode formed on a lower substrate opposite to the upper electrodes to be orthogonal to the upper electrodes, and a dielectric layer formed on the lower substrate including the lower electrode.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.